You wanna know why this team is losing

[89rabbit]

Over on the Sioux board they are talking about a chance to play Illinois and to add to their exchange, I thought I would post a pic of one of our players going head to head with one of the Illini.  If you go to the roster section of our athletics site and click on a player there are action shots from last season.  The exercise of going through the pictures, and looking for the best one, really brought home a point that I already knew.

We started the year very young and kind of short (overall as a team).  As the season has gone along we have gotten younger and shorter (overall as a team).  Looking for the pic from last year's SDSU vs. Illinois game, of the kids that will be ready to play against UMKC tomorrow three played in that game last year.  

We all know the reasons why we only have three, and my intent is not to open up yet another thread so that we can rehash those reasons.  I post this because I have noticed by reading some people's post that they are losing hope that things will get better and that our program will recover.

Right now we are not a very good basketball team.  There really is no arguing that fact.   I think if we were honest with ourselves (which is sometimes hard for many of us, me included, to do) I think most of us knew this year was going to be a struggle from the beginning.  If you didn't know that all you needed to do was listen to Coach talk about not measuring success this season by wins and loses but by how much the team improves over the course of the year.

We are very young and kind of short right now but it won't always be that way.  Think about this and take hope.  Our first chance at the "Big Dance" if everyone stays healthy and is still around would include a line up that looks like this:

20  Garrett Callahan G 6-1 Jr. Seneca, Ill.
24  Matt Cadwell G 6-3 Sr. St. Paul, MN
30  Blake Yackley F 6-5 Jr. Onida, SD
32  Ryan Hoogeveen G 6-2 So. Boyden, IA
33  Kia Williams F 6-6 Jr. Regina, SK
42  Thomas Bassett F 6-5 Jr. Dennison, IA
44  Mark Engen C 6-10 Jr. Lamberton, MN
52  Rober Bilitz C 6-10 Jr. Plymouth, MN

XX  Anthoney Cordova F 6-7 So. Sioux Falls, SD
XX  Dale Moss G 6-4 Fr./So. Brandon, SD
XX  Clint Sargent G 6-4 Fr./So. Sioux City, IA

XX  Cadsev has talked about a 6-7 F from Colorado who has verb. to SDSU who is in the HS class of '08 who would be a Fr. or red shirting that year.

plus anyone else that Coach Nagy adds, we have some scholarships to give.

I know losing stinks but there is good reason to keep our collective chins up.  I believe we will be a pretty good team when it really starts to matter.  Don't give up, this too shall pass, this test of our collective sprit will make it all the more sweet when we return to the top of conference rankings (which is where we all feel that we should rightly be).  

Call me Pollyanna if you want to, but I can see a bright future for our Jackrabbits even in these dark times.  Follow the light, better times are coming.

Go State!  

[jackrabit1]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

Plus a couple of Sophomores from Madsion that have already verbally committed to SDSU, Chad White and Tony Fiegen. They'll be freshman SDSU's first full year.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I think the biggest factor in the next couple of years will be retention of players (it's been hashed over and over already) and getting some decent bulk in the middle. We've got a very solid group of core players with Caddy, Williams, Yackley, Callahan and Basset. I'm not sure about the two big guys yet, but they could develop into very solid players. I hope Cordova can contribute by pushing people around down low as well. I'll remain cautiously optimistic hoping that we can retain this core group.

[filbert]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I think my horoscope for today said something about trying to be more optimistic. Go Rabbits, beat the Kangaroos!

[NorCalJack]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

Somehow I think an outtake from Animal House would be appropriate here

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the going gets tough . . . the tough get going. Who's with me? Let's Go! Come on! AAAAEEEEEGGGHHHH!! [Bluto runs out of the room alone; then returns] What the f$@# happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my a#@ from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons. But that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.

Let's do it, lets screw the 'Roos!!!

Go State!!! 8-) 8-) 8-)

[89rabbit]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

Now that is what I am talking about!!!! ;D



Go State!

[jackrabit1]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!"


No, but it sure is a HE!! of a lot of fun! ;D

[Jacked_Up]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I agree with RLV. Retention is the issue. Well, attraction first, then retention. For the past two years, retention has been a big challenge (coupled with bad luck). Retention takes hope, and keeping hope alive will take extra work this year. Hope is justified, but some players, recruits and fans might have to be convinced.

[filbert]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

the big reason this team is struggling is the lack of an effective inside game. Loney and Bassett can't do it themselves--Loney's got the experience but is undersized to be the main man inside against D-I competition. Bassett doesn't have the experience, and is actually a bit small too, but plays bigger than he is. Take Loney away with a knee injury, and the problem just gets magnified a bit more.

We all know what happened to our inside game, personnel-wise. It hasn't been one thing, but a series of unfortunate events starting with Matt Jones' freak illness. I say: So What? We can't change the past but can control the future. Let's get on with it.

The players remaining on the court (and yes, the coaches, too) need support and encouragement from the SDSU community. We know they're in a difficult situation, but I'm still behind them 100% and will be at tomorrow night's game yelling as loudly and as often as I can for the Yellow and Blue.

This season should be about learning and building towards March, 2009, when we should expect to be in a position to win the Mid-Continent Conference tournament and get a bid to the NCAA tournament in our first year of eligibility. We have the remainder of this year, all of 2007-08, and all of the 2008-09 year to get ready for that. Might as well get started right now.

They are still, and always will be, my Jackrabbits.

Who's with me? Bluto?

[valleyrabbit]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I am on board. It is great what the women are doing and I know seeing what NDSU is doing makes things seem worse, but it really doesn't count until 08-09. Let's stay behind these young men. They will get it turned around. Remember the way the Mid-Con is now being a 1 bid conference we have to win three Mid-Con tournament games in row. So right now until March 2009 is the time frame the Jacks have to get it turned around. We need to develop the us against the world mentality that the football team had and we will be fine.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I am on board.  It is great what the women are doing and I know seeing what NDSU is doing makes things seem worse, but it really doesn't count until 08-09.  Let's stay behind these young men.  They will get it turned around.  Remember the way the Mid-Con is now being a 1 bid conference we have to win three Mid-Con tournament games in row.  So right now until March 2009 is the time frame the Jacks have to get it turned around.  We need to develop the us against the world mentality that the football team had and we will be fine.

How is Andy Kardoes' jumper?

[EQguy]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I am pretty sure that Mitch Erickson would be able to clear the paint and grab a few rebounds.

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I'm in and always have been!

Losing sucks!!!!! We're all in agreement on that but it doesn't change the quality of the kids that we have in the program. They deserve our support! I think the coaches do to but that is up to the individual! It's about the kids!

We all had complete trust in Coach Nagy when he guided us through the NCC and into post-season play every year. I think he deserves some serious lattitude during the transition and we need to give him the opportunity to turn things around for a few more years!

I'll be there ringing my bell and yelling tomorrow night as well!

SUPERBUNNY

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I'm replying to this from a long way away both physically and temporally. I was re-interested in SDSU athletics from the web and the move to D-I. There's a lot of history in the eighties and nineties I'm ignorant of.

It seems to me that basketball is essentially an inner-city game and in order to be competitive you will probably have to recruit more African-American kids. Living in the St. Louis metro area, I can tell you that at least here, City schools are terrible and lots of these kids are horribly unprepared.

I Googled "academic support student athletes" and got a lot of interesting stuff. Here, for example, is the web page for Virginia Tech: http://saass.hokiesports.com/index.php

There are lots of others.

Certainly failure to recruit in inner cities has not been the dominant problem for the team to this point, there's plenty of other stories out there: illness, not wanting to play D-1, wanting to play D-1 in bigger programs, injuries, family trauma. There are also a few successful programs out there that are predominantly white.

For the most part, however, competition means spending extra money to fully adapt to a game whose demographics don't match South Dakota very well. That means making infrastructure improvements to assist all sorts of student athletes in ways that weren't necessary in a D-II environment. Like better facilities and higher coaches salaries these are expenditures that are necessary for a successful program.

There are also a number of programs that used black athletes to their own ends with little concern for graduation rates or ultimate success. To take people in and grind them up in this way is highly unethical IMHO.

I'm not sure whether or not these tutoring expenditures show up in reported budgets for D-I programs but they are necessary if SDSU is not going to be an on-going program for red shirts and freshmen with few if any student-athletes staying around for four years.

[filbert]

Re: You wanna know why this team is losing

I'm replying to this from a long way away both physically and temporally. I was re-interested in SDSU athletics from the web and the move to D-I. There's a lot of history in the eighties and nineties I'm ignorant of.

It seems to me that basketball is essentially an inner-city game and in order to be competitive you will probably have to recruit more African-American kids. Living in the St. Louis metro area, I can tell you that at least here, City schools are terrible and lots of these kids are horribly unprepared.

I Googled "academic support student athletes" and got a lot of interesting stuff. Here, for example, is the web page for Virginia Tech: http://saass.hokiesports.com/index.php

There are lots of others.

Certainly failure to recruit in inner cities has not been the dominant problem for the team to this point, there's plenty of other stories out there: illness, not wanting to play D-1, wanting to play D-1 in bigger programs, injuries, family trauma. There are also a few successful programs out there that are predominantly white.

For the most part, however, competition means spending extra money to fully adapt to a game whose demographics don't match South Dakota very well. That means making infrastructure improvements to assist all sorts of student athletes in ways that weren't necessary in a D-II environment. Like better facilities and higher coaches salaries these are expenditures that are necessary for a successful program.

There are also a number of programs that used black athletes to their own ends with little concern for graduation rates or ultimate success. To take people in and grind them up in this way is highly unethical IMHO.

I'm not sure whether or not these tutoring expenditures show up in reported budgets for D-I programs but they are necessary if SDSU is not going to be an on-going program for red shirts and freshmen with few if any student-athletes staying around for four years.

Poor, inner city kids (regardless of race) play basketball because they don't think they have any better options. They fight uphill against an entire urban culture that seems to be specifically designed to prevent them from doing what they need to do to be successful in life--getting an education, etc., etc. Basketball is one of the few areas where the culture allows them to succeed. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the melanin content of the kids' skins, but has everything to do with the culture they grow up in.

Suburban/rural kids (regardless of race) play basketball because they like it and (for those who go on to college) because they become good at it. They've got options, and basketball is one of those options.

I don't begrudge student-athletes the extra support that colleges can give to them. These kids devote an incredible amount of time to their sport, and it seems to me that it is only fair that in exchange for that time commitment, the universities commit resources to the student-athletes to help them succeed academically.

One of the next major facilities efforts that SDSU's athletic department will be embarking on is a Student Athlete Development Center to provide exactly that extra support that student-athletes need. It's in the long-range facilities plan, and you can see it for yourself in this year's basketball media guides.

Finally, I think it's nonsense to say that basketball "doesn't match South Dakota's demographics." It's a cop-out--a reason to not try. I reject the premise. D-I basketball players aren't born, they're made. As SDSU (and, yes, USD) move into D-I, I think you'll see more and more South Dakota high school seniors be D-I caliber athletes. It won't happen overnight, but already there's a small but steady stream of D-I basketball players graduating from the state's high schools, and those numbers will grow.

Back to the team:

Schools like SDSU need to cultivate a disciplined, team style of basketball, because they're not likely to get the five-star athletes that the big guys all want. The good news is that disciplined, team basketball can consistently beat more talented but less disciplined teams.

We saw that in the old NCC . . . Northern Colorado and Nebraska-Omaha were notorious for bringing physically talented but undisciplined teams to Frost Arena and getting blown out by possibly less talented but much more disciplined Jackrabbit teams that played as a group, knew what they were trying to do, and consistently went about their business.

What the Jackrabbits need to do this year is work on a disciplined, team-oriented style of play (which is extra-difficult when you keep losing players, but you gotta persevere).